When Am I Dead?

1. Soul Has Weight, Physician Thinks: Biologist Lee Silver tells us the story of a physician’s ambitious 1907 experiment to discover the weight of the soul. 2. Metamorphosis: One possibility of the afterlife from David Eagleman, read by actor Jeffrey Tambor. 3. When Am I Dead?: Is life over when your heart stops beating? When you take your last breath? When your brain fizzles out? Author and researcher Gary Greenberg and John Troyer explore these questions. 4. Anyone for Tennis?: We ask neuroscientist Adrian Owen, can the dead play tennis?

It's interesting you are carefully speaking about humans only in this context. I have been working professionally in animal care for the past 15 years (animal shelters, veterinary practice and the last 11 years in the zoo field) and I have seen a lot of different species deaths. Been present at the moment of death, looking into there eyes. You can see it, truly when "they" are no longer there and all that is left is a hunk of flesh. I found it particularly profound and noticeable at euthanasia's at the animal shelter I worked at. Dogs that were sick and weak would go easily and not fight and often looked peaceful. Looking into there eyes as they left it was usually calm. However, the dogs we had to do for space that were healthy and full of life often would fight it, light lingering in the eyes before finally going out almost angrily. It is hard to describe how I can discern so much from watching so many animals die for the last 15 years. Maybe it's projecting, but I don't think so. I am not a religious person. But I do know every death of each creature I have witnessed was unique and moving and in it's way some level of spirituality I don't pretend to understand. From little rats to large hoof-stock.

part 2-Your Grandpa's fine, we've only been gone 20 or 30 minutes... I tried to tell Her He was Gone, that I knew it for a Fact, that I was somehow with Him, but was still walking down the Corridor to his Room with Her... She keep trying to reassure me Grandfather was Fine, and we would be to His room Soon, and I would see for Myself... But I KNEW what just happened, even though I had a hard time explaining it, and didn't understand it myself, it didn't change the fact I knew He was Dead... We finally got back to His Floor heading down the corridor, when out of Grandfather's Room came the Nurse and a Doctor, They approached my Aunt, and Said, "We're So Sorry, Mr. Arnold just passed away"... Aunt Ruth just turned white, She keep asking me How, and Why didn't She experience it, how could we be arm and arm, and me in another Realm with Him, I don't know the Answer to Any of that, All I realized, was when you Draw your Last Breath you enter into an indescribable place, that can't be compared to this world, or explained.... but strangely enough, that encounter with the Spiritual Real didn't alter my Life, I continued on my Same Path, just with the knowledge When you Die, you go to this Perfect place of Love and Peace and Warmth and Acceptance.. where you are Loved in a way that can't be explained.. So Fully, Intently, Purely, Deeply, and Unconditionally.... but sadly, It would be several Years Later that My Life would be Changed in an instant....

I'm going to share my experiences with the afterlife with you, You are not obligated to read it, it's probably longer than you expected, but there is a lot of ground work that goes with the experience. I had every reason to believe God didn't exist. it has to do with being Kidnapped and Tortured the day after I got Baptized, I was around 14 or 15. I was sure there couldn't be a God if that Happened, and if there was, he wasn't anyone I ever wanted to know. you might say, I needed to believe He couldn't exist with that experience happening the very day after being Baptized. but then years Later two major events happened in my Life.I have no other reason to post on this upload, except to share these true events of my life. I wasn't raised in any type of religious upbringing, and my kidnapping the day after being Baptized left a bitter taste for anything God Related. but non the less both these things occurred in my life almost 20 years apart. You don't have to believe me, but I do have to warn you, Heaven and Hell are Real.

1986 my first insight to a spiritual realm-My Grandmother and Grandfather raised me for 11 Years of my Childhood. He was in the Hospital quite Ill, but He was such a tough old Coot, and we were sure He would pull through. All His Kids and Relatives gathered at the Hospital in Support, His Sister's and 5 or 6 of the His Kids were in the Room talking to Him, When His Younger Sister, my Aunt Ruth, ask me to walk Her down to the Chapel so She could Sit and say a Prayer, Grandpa's Room was so crowed, So I took her down, we stayed for a while, then headed Back, as We were heading down the Corridor, (Here is where I am going to have a difficult time trying to put into words what happened) I was arm in arm with My Elderly Aunt, when I became part of, or stepped into, a Spiritual Realm, My Grandfather was there, It Was Nothing I HAD EVER felt/experienced before, The PEACE, JOY, LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, HAPPINESS, was penetrating, it wasn't like feeling those emotions, it was being them, it was what you were. It was as if I had witnessed a Private Celebration for a small town War Hero Coming Come, as if the Whole Town was Full of Love, they all held WELCOME HOME SIGNS for someone they Missed immensely and he was finally coming home after being gone for years. the Love and Joy, pureness was indescribable, as hard as I'm trying, It was My Grandfather they were Welcoming into this Realm, a realm I had no idea existed. I looked at My Aunt and Said, "Did you just Feel Grandpa leaving Here", Now here's something I have never understood, She was a Christian, and regular Church goer, I had never stepped inside a Church after that experience I had, so there we were, arm in arm and she never experience one bit of it, She looked at me bewildered, and said "What are you talking about". I said "Grandpa just Died, and I was with Him" She said, What's wrong with you, why are you saying that, Your Grandpa's fine, we've only been gone 20 or 30 minutes.

I and you do not have to die to go to Heaven. I and you do have to be born-again to go to Heaven John 3 and First Thessalonians 4:13-18. Many who do not receive Jesus (John 1:12) will go to Hell (Luke 16:19-31) until they stand before a great white throne and God and the Book of Life is opened (Revelation 20:10-15). I and many believers/saints aka The Church will be alive when Jesus returns to take us to Heaven (John 14:1-3 and Acts 1:9-11). This is why I'm glad to see and love cemeteries. When I see cemeteries I look to see believers rising from their graves, because I know I'm next.

The music at seven minutes into this podcast is David Shire from the soundtrack of The Conversation.This drove me crazy for weeks, and finally figured it out. I hope all of you asking about this are also relieved!

Thanks, good program! I especially liked the last comment on the death of the universe. From another point of view, however, “death” may be understood as another word for “beginning.”

That life/spirit survives death should not come as a surprise. Yes, it’s true that there is no room for a consciousness that questions, i.e., free will, in the physical event—the electro-chemical firing of synapses occurring in squishy grey matter; however, life/spirit works through the transition from the eternal to the actual, and from the actual back to the eternal. In this respect, the entire physical universe may be thought of as processing its way back to God. God/Affirmative Ideal is the reason for all becoming and as such is one with nature and the learning process that both asks and answers questions, questions pertaining to Divinity, nature, and everything else. In the end, the answer to why we exist, why life exists, and why life after death exists can/will be found in the inescapable depth and center of all there is, that is, in that place where Beauty, Love, Freedom become as One. bwinwnbwi

For more see: http://bwinwnbwi2.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/god-physics-freedom-worldview-reverence-justice/

Science to me is pretty much a religion in the sense that in its most orthodox form has its own dogmas about life, creation, etc. And in its more mystic form it has scientists seeking the same answers to life as religious mystics are, except from without instead of from within.Both are valid imo.

I'm fascinated by science and it's discoveries and theories, but for me it's the more expansive practical awareness and understanding gained from inner discoveries and dreams that I like most.

Could it be that dreams, inner spiritual experiences including obe's are glimpses of the parallel universes quantum physics theorizes about? Beyond quantum physic's reach?

As an aside....

HU (pronounced hue) is a sound I like to sing. It's not connected to any religious doctrine, so anybody, religious or not, atheist, scientist, anybody can use and benefit from it. Can be sung aloud or softly while sitting comfortably with eyes closed up to 20 minutes or so, followed by silent contemplation. Or sung silently during the day at work. Or before bedtime. Especially wonderful if sung with love.The benefits have been many.

Hospice nurses I work with have commented on the work of dying. It does sometimes seem to BE work, people may need to be alone - without family. They may not want to be touched - even when comfort is being offered. They may frown if touched as if they are being interrupted.Everyone and every situation is different - but this was new information to me.

Thanks so much for these stories. Not only did it help me a great deal in helping manage my pain over the loss of my father, but I've had a great time spooking people out by telling them about playing tennis in your mind!

I had one thought about the last item, "Tennis" -- the ending thought is a pointless one: proving a negative is impossible, by definition. You cannot prove someone is dead, you can only prove they are alive.

The story of afterlife seemed to me another take on Sartre's No Exit. In the room those who were remembering were heard in the room until they were no longer remembered.

Additionally, I have worked as a chaplain in a hospital and in a hospice agency. I have been present at around 50 deaths, when the person actually died. There is clearly a difference in that moment when death occurs, obviously the skin color in the face changed. But that element of animation, the last bit of self-will is gone in that moment.

The only time I did not see that was with a patient who had been declared brain dead. I was there when the tests were performed to determine that brain death had occurred. The was no sign of response in any form, nothing that showed there was any self-will. When he was extubated, he did not breathe and his heart continued to beat for nearly twenty-five minutes before cardiac death occurred. There was no real change in the person appearance other than the paleness of the skin from the loss of blood flow.

There is something that happens to the family present when death happens. It is never simple and direct, there is a sense of a brokenness, a undesired knowledge of what is inevitable, that is something that will ripple in various ways throughout the remaining days of their life.

This is the spiritual aspect of death for us as humans, when we recognize what has changed in our loved one and ourselves.

In segment 7, David Eagleman totally misses the point. If the technology he posits existed and we were to make a perfect copy of someone's brain, it would not be that person. It would be a copy. The person whose brain had been copied would still exist inside their own body.

Out of curiosity, whom exactly are you railing against? Sure. the RL hosts feign some interest in 'spiritual' questioning, but the rhetorical "what happens when we die" is really just a canard -- a bit of marketing, maybe, to draw in those NPR listeners who like their pop science leavened with some new-agey fantasies. The show's bottom line is as unsurprising as it is clear: hard core (if cutesy and rather self-satisfied) nihilism. Worry not. You're among friends.

Nothing happens when you die, and after. You stop functioning. You then have no more awareness than you did before you were born. You become an inert bag of chemicals that rots away.

A human being is like a candle. It's ignited at conception, burns, expressing its energy and personality along the way, and then burns out. Whatever "soul" it has is expressed during life. When it's over it's over.

I believe we all suffer many deaths, the most intimate ones being within ourselves. I look back at my life, 40 now, and think of the chapters that have taken place. It seems to me each ends with a king of death. How closely related am I today to that 4 year old I once was...

While you are preparing for sleep, brushing yourteeth,or riffling through a magazine in bed,the dead of the day are setting out on their journey.They are moving off in all imaginable directions,each according to his own private belief,and this is the secret that silent Lazarus would notreveal:that everyone is right, as it turns out.You go to the place you always thought you wouldgo,the place you kept lit in an alcove in your head.

Some are being shot up a funnel of flashing colorsinto a zone of light, white as January sun.Others are standing naked before a forbiddingjudge who sitswith a golden ladder on one side, a coal chute onthe other.

Some have already joined the celestial choirand are singing as if they have been doing thisforever,while the less inventive find themselves stuckin a big air-conditioned room full of food andchorus girls.

Some are approaching the apartment of the femaleGod,a woman in her forties with short wiry hairand glasses hanging from her neck by a string.With one eye she regards the dead through a holein her door.

There are those who are squeezing into the bodiesof animals—eagles and leopards—and one tryingonthe skin of a monkey like a tight suit,ready to begin another life in a more simple key,while others float off into some benign vagueness,little units of energy heading for the ultimateelsewhere.

There are even a few classicists being led to anunderworldby a mythological creature with a beard andhooves.He will bring them to the mouth of a furious caveguarded over by Edith Hamilton and her threeheaded dog.

The rest just lie on their backs in their coffinswishing they could return so they could learnItalianor see the pyramids, or play some golf in a lightrain.They wish they could wake in the morning likeyouand stand at a window examining the winter trees,every branch traced with the ghost writing of snow.

Hey there, for those of you wondering, “My mind is sleeeepin” is The Temptations.“Take a Stroll Thru Your Mind” from Psychedelic Soul.Feel free to write into radiolab@wnyc.org to ask about other song references.

Hello there, Lovely podcast. Where can I find out what songs were being played in the background of this episode. There was one in particular in the middle of the episode, a woman singing a very opera-like song. Thanks and keep up the awesome work! -V

The 21 grams is probably merely the weight of pressure from air in the lungs and other gasses that would be expelled from the body after death. The Egyptians believed that a person's Ka (life-force) left the body along with the Ba (soul) at the time of death.

Also, I think it would have been interesting to look at what happens after life if you believe in reincarnation. That belief system holds that your soul is reborn as a sentient being over and over again until the destruction of the universe.

Is the soul made of matter? One of the basic laws of physics says matter can be neither created nor destroyed.